Nevin Harrison earns bronze in World Championships return in sprint paddle

Two-time Olympic medalist Nevin Harrison won a bronze medal at the World Championships after taking more than one year off from international sprint paddle competition following the 2024 Paris Games.

Harrison, an Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo and silver medalist in Paris, finished third in Poznan, Poland, on Sunday.

She was 64 hundredths of a second behind gold medalist Liudmyla Luzan of Ukraine in the 45-second 200m sprint. Race video is here.

Harrison, a 24-year-old Seattle native who has recently lived in San Diego, returned to international competition in May for the first time since the 2024 Olympics.

“I definitely have a mix of emotions coming back,” Harrison said in May, according to Paddle Worldwide (formerly called the International Canoe Federation). “I [unofficially] decided to retire after Paris. I was unsure if I was going to come back, but the stars aligned.”

During her time off, Harrison worked as a bartender once or twice a week, surfed and even ran a half marathon, according to Paddle Worldwide.

“I think gaining that much success and momentum at such a young age really burnt me out,” she said, according to the report. “By the time I was 22/23 I was so exhausted from competing, I just needed to take a step away.”

Now she's motivated for at least one more Olympics.

"LA28 is a huge amount of motivation because this time I’m really doing it for me," she said, according to Paddle Worldwide. "I decided to come back on my terms and in my own way."

• Nick Zaccardi,